Hunter's Domain

Beth felt like everything was conspiring against them as Vivian’s car lurched to a stop at another red light. She glanced over at Vivian; the redhead was hunched over the steering wheel, eyes locked on the light above the road. For a second, Beth wondered if she was going to use her powers to alter the lights, but not a flicker of magic came from the worried redhead as her fingers clenched into the material of the steering wheel.

Beth's attention shifted to Thornbite, the whip resting on her lap. The lightweight weapon felt heavy upon her thighs as real battle loomed ahead. It wasn’t some barrier with crafted monsters inside, but real enemies. Enemies that had the advantage via ambush, striking when they had been separated.

‘Man, I hate feeling like this,’ she thought, hands gripping her weapon as tightly as Vivian held the wheel when the light turned green and the redhead quickly stepped on the gas and raced forward. ‘Why did this have to happen like this? Can’t these bad guys attack us as a group?’

She meant that last thought as a bit of gallow’s humor to distract from the horrible truth of the matter, but it did little to push back the dark tide of gnawing fear, fear the silence in the car fed. Never the most sociable person, Beth was at a complete loss on what to even try to say, so she kept her mouth shut.

‘What could I even say?’ she wondered as she bit her lips nervously. ‘We’ll save them? We’ve got this? They’ll be alright? Ugh, why am I such a crappy person?’

“Hey,” Vivian’s quiet voice cut through Beth’s thoughts, “you holding up alright?”

Beth was ready to answer with an affirmative, to brush off her concerns, but found the lie dying in her throat. Coughing slightly, she answered truthfully, “Not really. It’s a bit much, isn’t it?”

Vivian nodded solemnly. “It is. Even with a few days to realize something like this could happen, having it become reality is…”

“Too big to think about?” Beth finished in a questioning tone.

“Yeah,” Vivian stated, her voice breaking slightly. “I think after a few days of nothing happening, we got complacent that they would just forget us. Or getting the Order on their case **** them underground.”

“Are we sure it’s them?” Beth asked. “I mean, my sister drilled into my head the dangers of slavers and mana factory kidnappers.”

“I’d honestly feel better if it was something like that,” Vivian responded. “At least then they’d only try to kidnap John. But given what happened to him and Aoelia before, I can’t help but think it’s them.”

Beth nodded, not liking that things were pointing towards the worse option. Taking a breath, she said, “Guess it doesn’t matter who’s doing the attacking. They moved against us, so we’ve got to fight back. Got people to save.”

“That’s right,” Vivian said. “Aeolia should be there already, and Teri’s on her way with more help. And when we beat them, we can get down to the root of the problem and put this whole thing to rest.”

Beth tightened her grip on Thornbite. She didn’t have the personal history with these blood stealers John or Aeolia had, or Vivian’s somewhat close call given her attempts to reach out to local guilds, but they were after the people she had become close to, closer than she could have anticipated given their rough start.

‘“You’ve got to fight for what you want in this world”,’ she thought, recalling the words her mother had told her once, so long ago she barely remembered how that conversation reached that point, but the words had been burned into her. ‘I’ve got something now, I’m not going to lose it. And I’m not going to die, Lynn. I’ve got good people at my back and I’m not going to make them sad because of me.’

John’s heart beat in his ears, drowning out what their assailant had said. All he could process was that his mother was in danger and it was his fault.

‘It’s not,’ Senka interjected, her resolute voice cutting through his spiraling thoughts. ‘They attacked you, attacked us, without any provocation. Summon me behind them and I will strike him down.’

With a solution voiced, John’s panic began to subside. The terror remained, fueling his racing heart and quivering limbs, but it no long was stalling his thoughts. He projected his thanks to Senka and began to focus his mana into the summoning.

Before Senka could manifest, Brenda let out a panicked cry as the vines around her shuddered and tightened their hold around her. John’s concentration faltered and the vines relaxed slightly.

Their attacker laughed, a deep grumbling that carried his malice. “Probably should have told ya those vines are pretty touchy when it comes to magic they ain’t used to.”

He sneered at John, “What? Don’t believe me? Just use that scrying magic of yours to see. I’ll keep it from squeezing too much. Won’t be fun if she goes too soon.”

He laughed again and placed a wide hand on Brenda’s shoulder, causing her to flinch as best she could. A spike of rage cut through his fear and his grip on his sword tightened.

‘How does he know about Observe?’ Senka wondered, her measured voice doing little to hide a rage that matched his.

‘I don’t know,’ John admitted. ‘I don’t think he knew I was trying to summon you, so I don’t think….’

John trailed off as a thought occurred to him. ‘That charm I Observed on the bus on Monday! Whoever was wearing it is with these guys! That’s how they knew about me.’

Something else came to mind. ‘Someone bumped me right before I got pulled into the Trap Barrier. That could have been the signal, right? Tag me so this guy could pull me in.’

‘A sound theory,’ Senka remarked. ‘But we don’t have the time to ponder it. Find out what those vines are and see if there’s anything we can do about them.’

‘But what if he’s baiting me into doing that to hurt Mom?’ John worried.

‘We’re blind to everything besides the hounds,’ Senka pointed out. ‘If he is lying about keeping the vines subdued, then we have to attack quickly with everything we have to save her. Summon me and strike with everything you have.’

John nodded slightly. A part of him wanted to just skip dancing to the tune of their attacker and go on the offensive immediately, but he would follow Senka’s more level headed plan. Striking while he had Brenda in the palm of his hand while there was an option that might not put her in more danger was likely to cause more damage. Best to play along and save their aces for a more opportune moment.

With a gulp and an apologetic look to Brenda, John activated Observe.

Kadzi Vines
A species of vines native to Amarlis. It is highly reactive to mana, often growing towards sources of it much like how it does to sunlight. It can be cultivated to act as a trap towards unrecognized mana sources, lashing out from walls or shooting out of the ground to ensnare trespassers.

John ignored the popup and kept his eye on Brenda. The vines shuddered slightly, but didn’t tighten around her and John let out a sigh of relief. Their captor glanced at the vines then back to John, an ugly frown on his face.

“That it?” he spat, his voice full of derision. “Barely felt it. Looks like it really isn’t anything to get worked up over. Guess that means it’s time for the main event. ”

He stepped away from Brenda, but not more than a few steps. At the same time, the vine hounds began to advance, the pack forming a crescent as they **** John to step backwards.

‘John, use Observe on him,’ Senka pressed. ‘It’s clear his ability to sense magic is limited. We may not get another chance to gain info.’

John heeded the spirit’s advice and cast Observe, ready to attack if the man did detect it.

The now identified Bill didn’t show any sign that he felt the spell, which let John focus briefly on the display, his eyes widening at the ‘Mana’ portion of his stats.

‘What the hell’s going on with his mana?’ John questioned with rising panic. A full seven stars would mean Bill had at least two hundred points of mana, a big enough problem, but the red coloring was something unexpected and it didn’t bode well.

‘Can’t think about it too much now,’ he thought as the hounds began to attack now that they had put several meters of distance between him and their master. Two of them moved in a coordinated maneuver towards him, striking at him from both right and left.

The one going for his right moved slightly faster and lunged at his arm, wooden teeth bared with strings of sappy drool flying from its maw. John activated Rushing Winds, deftly evading the attack. The second attack came from his left but with his enhanced Agility and years of experience, he was able to dodge it.

He swung his blade in a counter attack on the left hound as Senka cast a Black Thorn at the one on his right. Before either attack could connect, the other two hounds bounded to their companion’s defense. John was **** to quickly backstep, aborting his attack. Black Thorn, however, still flew true and lodged into the flank of the first attacker

8 DMG

John ceased fueling Rushing Wind, his mana dropped to 75. He took a few more steps back, breathing heavily.

“Come on now,” Bill taunted, a twisted smile on his lips. “One little hit all you got? Maybe you need a little more motivation?”

He lifted his hand, and John shouted, “No!”

Bill let out a sick laugh, dropping his hand down as the vines began to wiggle and Brenda began to struggle against their movement, her muffled cries growing in panic. “I’d say it’ll take ten minutes before these squeeze the life out of her.”

Hot anger surged through John and he took a step forward, one that triggered the four hounds. They bounded towards him, two straight for him, the others moving to flank him.

‘Senka, I’m going to draw them off, then summon you behind me,’ he projected to the spirit as he lashed out with his blade, knocking the first attacker to the ground. ‘Fight that bastard with everything you have.’

-12 HP

John’s movement faltered as one of the hounds caught his arm in its maw, wooden teeth digging through his shirt and tearing into his flesh. Still, the pain did little to distract from his plan and he willed Senka manifest. The spirit appeared behind him and quickly fired off a Black Thorn at Bill.

The sudden manifestation caught their attacker flatfooted and the spike of shadow struck him, though he was able to bring up his arms to protect his chest. Two of the hounds, driven perhaps by instinct to protect their summoner, abandoned their attack on John and lunged at Senka.

Needing to strike quickly, John willed his wind spirit to manifest, the small tempest circling over his head. Activating Rushing Winds once more, John felt himself grow faster, his Agility now more than double its current number thanks to the full addition of his Wisdom score. With it, John was able to deftly strike at the hounds, forcing the one biting him to release its hold and driving both back.

John then dashed forward, ignoring Senka’s battle behind him, his focus locked on his mother and Bill. Their assailant was already recovering from Senka’s attack, Black Thorn fading from where it had pierced his arm, far too shallow to be anything more than a nuisance. His face was twisted into a snarl and vines began to coil around his arms. Thick, blood red thorns shot out from where the vines covered his knuckles, mini brass knuckles.

John wasn’t concerned with his armaments, and threw his left hand out towards Brenda. Hex flew from his outstretched fingers as he ended Rushing Winds, prioritizing having mana in reserve to the boost in speed. Likewise, he let the wind spirit fade back into his aura, not willing to pay for its upkeep.

He saw Bill clench his hand towards Brenda, likely trying to crush her. Under the effects of Hex, his efforts were pointless and he had to abandon trying as John slammed into the arm he raised to block his sword.

Under his own power John’s attack did little more than jostle Bill, the stocky man’s feet planted firmly on the ground. The wooden blade bit into the vine covered limb, but only just.

Bill glared at him with a manic grin, his teeth gleaming dangerously.

“That’s more like it,” he snarled. “But if that’s all the aces you had, it ain’t enough.”

Bill reared back his free arm and jammed it into John’s gut, driving the air from his lungs.

-15 HP

Spit flew from John’s slack mouth as he was knocked back. He dimly heard a muffled cry from Brenda as he stumbled back and a wave of great concern from Senka as she fended off all four hounds. John managed to drive his blade into the ground to support his bent body.

Bill looked to his bloodied knuckle spikes then to John’s mended abdomen.

“Maybe I should bring you to the boss,” he mused, though his expression showed great distaste at the notion. “Nah, fuck him and that bitch too. Wanted you dead at the start, so that’s what they’ll get.”

John took a pained breath and tried to **** his blade back up but Bill proved faster and slammed into him with his shoulder, knocking John to the ground.

-5 HP

Bill planted his foot on John’s chest, slowly increasing the pressure. John was about to try one last gambit and nearly switched to Senka’s vessel, when Bill’s head snapped up. John followed his gaze and a wave of jubilation washed away some of his pain.

Above them, diving down like a blazing green comet, Aeolia descended like an avenging angel.